Jackson County offers pregnant women drug test
Expectant mothers can opt to have a drug screening along with other
prenatal services to assess risk to their babies
The Associated Press
MEDFORD -- Jackson County doctors are launching what may be the first
widespread, voluntary drug-screening test for pregnant women in Oregon.
"I actually think that Medford is ahead of the game on this one, at least
in the state," said Sandy Maynard, a planner with the Department of Human
Resources.
Other communities have tried to launch similar programs but none are
currently using them.
"The whole point of this is to improve the chance of that baby to be as
healthy as possible," said Dr. Jonathan Gell, joint medical director of
Rogue Valley Medical Center and Providence Medford Medical Center.
Gell also is a member of the Family Addiction Community Team, or FACT, a
community group that worked with doctors to set up the voluntary
drug-screening program.
Beginning in January, gynecologists and other doctors told their pregnant
patients that a drug test would be included in the prenatal screenings to
assess any heath risk to them or their babies.
Women can refuse the drug screening, but it is considered by many doctors
as important as prenatal tests for syphilis, gestational diabetes and the HIV virus.
Doctors previously asked pregnant patients to take a drug test only if they
suspected the women were at high risk for drug use.
Dr. Richard Lowensohn, who has criticized previous proposals to require
testing, said he thought voluntary universal screening can work as long
as doctors have good relationships with their patients and it's clear the
screening is a potential benefit for mothers and their unborn children.
Lowensohn, an associate professor in obstetrics and gynecology at Oregon
Health Sciences University, spoke against mandatory universal drug testing
and state reporting when it was rejected by the 1990 Legislature.
Lowensohn said it would scare mothers away from getting prenatal care.
The new testing already has turned up a number of surprise drug users --
many of them marijuana users -- among the expectant mothers.
"The goal is to treat and not to mandate or force a woman to do anything,"
said Robin Turgeson, a nurse with the county health department.

Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 18:24:04 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)
Subject: MN: US CA: Plea Deal Cuts Pot Grower's Jail Term To 10 Months
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Joel W. Johnson (jwjohnson@netmagic.net)
Source: Sacramento Bee (CA)
Contact: opinion@sacbee.com
Website: http://www.sacbee.com/
Pubdate: Wed, 25 Feb 1998
PLEA DEAL CUTS POT GROWER'S JAIL TERM TO 10 MONTHS
A federal judge in Sacramento issued a shortened sentence Tuesday to a
convicted pot grower who agreed to peddle a message from the U.S.
government: Possession of marijuana is illegal, despite a California law
that legalized the plant for medicinal use.
The sentencing marks the first time the U.S. government has successfully
prosecuted a California resident who claimed to be growing the plant under
Proposition 215, the state law that legalizes marijuana possession for the
seriously ill and their caregivers.
Judge Lawrence K. Karlton gave the grower, Roni L. Aurelio, a 10-month jail
sentence, shaving as many as four months off the maximum penalty. In her
unusual plea agreement, prosecutors promised to recommend leniency if
Aurelio publicly warned would-be pot growers against the belief that
Proposition 215 shields them from stricter federal laws that make marijuana
possession illegal.
During the case, both the judge and prosecutor Nancy L. Simpson appeared to
tacitly recognize that the split between state and federal marijuana law
had created an element of confusion in some sectors. Before the sentencing,
Karlton issued a statement saying the legal split could be grounds for
granting a lower sentence.
Scott Tedmon, Aurelio's lawyer, said defense attorneys in future federal
pot cases may seize upon Karlton's statement in a bid to secure similar
considerations for their clients. "The issues (the judge) raised open the
door for other defense attorneys to argue their facts and see if they fit,"
Tedmon said.
Aurelio, her boyfriend, Richard Maughs, and three other defendants had been
arrested after drug agents found nearly 1,600 marijuana plants under their
care at two separate grow sites.
The group had posted signs claiming the pot was meant for medical use and
had contracted with a 24-year-old paraplegic marijuana advocate in Redding
to distribute the drug.
As part of the plea bargain, prosecutors charged Aurelio in connection with
a single grow site of roughly 340 plants. Federal guidelines mandate a
10-year minimum sentence for defendants caught with more than 1,000 plants.
The other defendants have not entered pleas in their cases. Simpson, who is
prosecuting at least two similar cases in Karlton's court, said she would
not offer similar deals to other defendants.
"I think we've sent the message," Simpson said. Aurelio completed her part
of the deal after being featured in a 16-paragraph story published Monday
in the Siskiyou Daily News, a 5,000 circulation newspaper in Yreka.
"My goal now is to warn the public," Aurelio told the paper during a
pre-sentencing interview in Sacramento County jail.
Local law enforcement agents who investigated Aurelio and her co-defendants
were extremely disappointed with the sentencing, saying the group had used
the new law as a cover for its criminal operation.
"I don't think they made a real strong argument against people growing pot
by letting her off easy," said Siskiyou County Sheriff's Detective John
Glines. "Sending her away for a long time would have sent a message."
Glines said a search of Aurelio's home found a videotape of Maughs standing
in a large outdoor marijuana garden before Proposition 215 passed. Glines
also cited the large size of the operation as evidence that the group was
planning to distribute pot to more than just the seriously ill in Siskiyou
County.
Copyright ) 1998 The Sacramento Bee

Date: Thu, 26 Feb 1998 03:21:01 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: Olafur Brentmar
Subject: MN: US WA: Pot Grower Tells All In Fight Over Legal Rights
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: John Smith
Pubdate: Wed, 25 Feb 1998
Source: The Herald, Everett, WA, USA
Contact: letters@heraldnet.com
WebPage: http://www.heraldnet.com
Author: Scott North, Herald Writer
Note: You can contact Scott North by phone at 425-339-3431 or you can
send e-mail to him at north@heraldnet.com
POT GROWER TELLS ALL IN FIGHT OVER LEGAL RIGHTS
SEATTLE -- In 1996, Gregory Haynes was named Man of the Year in the tiny
Eastern Washington hamlet of Warden.
On Tuesday, he sat in a federal courtroom in Seattle and explained in
detail how he grew large amounts of marijuana in a Stanwood barn and in
five shipping containers buried beneath his uncle's Grant County alfalfa
field. Haynes made the admissions as part of a bid to convince U.S.
District Court Judge Thomas Zilly to throw out federal drug conspiracy and
money laundering charges against him.
His pitch was based largely on the federal government's decision to use
former Everett private investigator Dale Fairbanks as a key informant in
the case. Some of the investigation's targets had previously been
represented by Mark Mestel, an Everett defense attorney for whom Fairbanks
had regularly worked as an investigator.
Haynes and his co-defendant, uncle James Denton, contend Fairbanks'
involvement in the case helped the government trample on their rights to a
confidential relationship between lawyers and clients.
Federal prosecutors, however, have argued that no attorney-client
confidences were breached, partly because the alleged pot growers
criminally abused their relationship with Mestel in earlier legal
proceedings.
Zilly on Tuesday heard his fourth full day of testimony in the case, which
has probed allegations of fraudulent documents being filed in court and the
delivery of small amounts of marijuana to Mestel.
Closing arguments, and the judge's decision, are expected today. Haynes
testified Tuesday with the understanding that prosecutors would legally be
unable to rely on his testimony as their chief evidence against him at
trial. Haynes testified that from 1994 to 1997, he paid Mestel several
thousand dollars for legal representation, and believed the attorney-client
relationship extended to Fairbanks as well.
The Warden man said that when his Stanwood pot farm caught fire in 1994,
one of the first things he did was make sure that Mestel represented him
and potential codefendants.
He also dismantled his underground marijuana farm in Warden. But Haynes
testified he resumed growing marijuana underground there in 1997. He said
he felt safe because Fairbanks told him law officers had ceased
investigating the 1994 Stanwood case.
"Dale told me everything was fine," Haynes said. "It was a done deal. ...
That he was my 'in,' and could protect me." By that time, Fairbanks had
already been working as a government informant for about a year.
Under questioning from assistant U.S. attorney Doug Whalley, Haynes
acknowledged that he felt Fairbanks shared some of the blame for the Warden
marijuana farm being reactivated.
Fairbanks testified tearfully last week that he decided to assist the
government in its investigation after Haynes attempted to recruit him into
criminal activity and used him as a conduit for sending Mestel small
amounts of marijuana. Haynes also testified about the drug deliveries
Tuesday, but said Mestel didn't ask him to send the pot, and never
acknowledged receiving any. Mestel last week testified that Haynes sent
him marijuana, but said he threw away, and turned away, the drug.

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